The invention relates to jewelry components that are magnetized and joined to form new and unusual jewelry articles having heretofore unknown properties and advantages. In particular, the present invention relates to jewelry components that are magnetically attractable to or repulsed by each other so a plurality of such components can be joined or combined into rings, bracelets, chains, chokers, necklaces, watchbands or the like, with the magnetic force holding the components together or apart, as desired. Also, components can be connected in any one of a number of positional relationships so that the final jewelry article is self-sizing to the wearer.
Jewelry articles are generally made of different types of precious metals and stones and are held together by mechanical linkages or interconnections. This is of course well known to the skilled artisans and in common use today. Designers are somewhat limited by these mechanical connections, and it would be desirable to have other joining forms for creation of new and unusual jewelry articles.
The use of magnetic force to join components is known in the field. Various permanent magnets have been used, and these can be provided with very strong magnetic fields. They are generally used to hold two oppositely magnetized components together. Such permanent magnets are generally made of non-precious metal alloys and for that reason are not desirable for use in fine jewelry.
While there have been some attempts at making precious metal magnets, two problems have been encountered. Many precious metal magnets do not possess sufficient magnetic strength to secure jewelry components together. Furthermore, attempts at alloying such metals to increase their magnetic strength causes further dilution of the precious metal content of the alloy, thus rendering it less desirable for use in jewelry components or articles. A magnetized platinum cobalt alloy is known, but previously has not been deemed to be suitable for use in jewelry components or articles.
In addition, highly magnetic jewelry articles can be problematic in certain situations. Contact of strong magnets with credit cards, computer disks or other magnetically sensitive materials can cause damage to such materials. Also, rings, bracelets and necklaces, if strongly magnetized, are generally located such that they can easily come in contact with magnetically sensitive materials to cause damage or loss of information therein.
Also, when a person wishes to purchase an article of jewelry to be worn, care must be taken to assure that the size of the piece is correct. When purchasing an item such as a bracelet or necklace, the size is selectable from one of a plurality of standard lengths at the desire of the purchaser. Other items, such as watchbands, are provided with removable links so that the size can be selected to conform to the size of the person's wrist. For other items, such as a ring, the jeweler will usually measure the size of the person's finger so that the ring can easily slide along the person's finger into place. It is often difficult to properly size the ring so that it can be snugly maintained in place as it must also be sufficiently large to pass over the person's knuckles, especially for people that have arthritic joints. This means that the ring must be sized larger to accomplish this and then will be too loose when in the proper position. Also, the person's finger can change in size over the years, and a ring that is correctly sized at one time can end up being incorrectly sized in the future.
The accommodation of different sizes creates difficulties for the jewelry manufacturer and seller, in that different sizes must be made available, or specialized orders must be custom made to the person's actual or desired dimensions. It would be desirable to avoid having to carry large inventories of different sized jewelry articles, as well as to avoid having to make custom sized pieces for each customer. These problems are now solved by the present invention.
It also would be desirable to have magnetically joinable jewelry components to assist designers in creating new visual appealing designs or for these components to have magnetic strengths that are sufficiently strong to securely join jewelry components together. The present invention now satisfies these needs.
Also, it would be desirable to have magnetically joinable jewelry components to assist designers in creating new visual appealing designs. It is also desirable for these components to have magnetic strengths that are sufficiently strong to securely join jewelry components together without emitting or radiating high magnetic fields that can cause damage to magnetically sensitive materials or similar items. The present invention now satisfies these needs and provides other advantages for use in fine and costume jewelry applications.